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[Misc] Garage ‘fixing’ my car.







upthealbion1970

bring on the trumpets....
NSC Patreon
Jan 22, 2009
8,861
Woodingdean
Could be unrelated but as another poster has said sometimes when 1 thing fails on an older car there can seem to be a domino effect with part after part wearing out.

I’m still amazed that on the whole the motor trade is unregulated unless it’s MOTs.

I also know for a fact that at least half of the garages in and around Brighton aren’t vary good judging by the amount of parts they return after poor diagnosis (or guessnostics as we have named them).

FWIW my department has sold over £15m in parts to the trade in the last 3 years.

Main dealer stealers should be better, some are but many fall way short in terms of quality of diagnosis and actual work done.

An honest reliable garage/mechanic is hard to find.
 




el punal

Well-known member
Good morning, I thought the wisdom of NSC might be able to give some good advice on this issue...

Last Wednesday, my car decided to break down on the way home from a night shift in Bournemouth, had a massive coolant leak ( the aa finally recovered me, then their van broke down, so had to wait for a second van.
Anyway..

After after 4 days in the garage I got my car back. ( this was Saturday ) when I got my car, there was a note on the window screen to say ‘sorry I hit you car’...rubbish luck right?

On Sunday evening my engine management light came on...fantastic. Took the car to same garage Monday, as I’ve never had issues with this place when ever I have used them. Turns out to be a problem with the egr valve, needed a part replacing.

I finally got my car back yesterday...after driving about 10 miles, my clutch went. I’ve never had any issues with the clutch prior to this, so alarm bells are ringing.

I’m aware this could be coincidence, and I don’t want to start pointing the finger. The garage did tell me that it looked like some poor work had been done previously on the clutch when it was replaced before ( before I got it ) and they done some work to correct this.

It could just be I’ve got some bloody shit luck and the cars a piece of crap. ( highly likely )
But how would you approach this conversation with the garage this morning?

Sorry for the long post....

Thanks

Ask everyone involved to buy you a yearly bus pass. Secondly, to save a bit more money, do NOT renew your season ticket for St.Mary’s, on health grounds it would save you a lot of stress and less strain on the vocal chords from all the booing that you boys made into an art form last season.
 




Don Parasol

Active member
Jan 29, 2017
108
Just for the anti roll bar link?

Yes, unfortunately. I don't have the receipt in front of me so I can't be totally sure of the exact amount. I was told in advance that as soon as they had the sub-frame off it would incur a min. £100 to start investigating. It's why I haven't been back to a main dealer for since I had the car - only made an exception as the engine problems have been more serious / software related.

All the other investigative work into the engine / turbo / suspension has not been charged as they haven't found anything to fix.
 


Bwian

Kiss my (_!_)
Jul 14, 2003
15,898
I think you can put this down to shit luck, the egr valve and the clutch are in no way connected.
Unless the garage have been seriously ragging it around and deliberately worn your clutch out, I think it’s pretty much a shitty coincidence.

Agree with this. I'm in the trade and car owners like the OP are often referred to as 'sinchues'...'Since you repaired my headlight the air conditioning isn't working properly', or 'since you replaced my brake discs and pads my clutch has started slipping'. I hear similar all the time.

Not insulting the OP by the way...

Quite often drivers are warned about problems but they either ignore or don't hear the warning (s). A few weeks later their car dies on them...
 


Bowers-sfc

forever red, never blue
Feb 20, 2011
234
Agree with this. I'm in the trade and car owners like the OP are often referred to as 'sinchues'...'Since you repaired my headlight the air conditioning isn't working properly', or 'since you replaced my brake discs and pads my clutch has started slipping'. I hear similar all the time.

Not insulting the OP by the way...

Quite often drivers are warned about problems but they either ignore or don't hear the warning (s). A few weeks later their car dies on them...

When you’re looking at a hefty repair bill, you’ll clutch at the smallest of straws. No pun intended. Turns out it’s just shit luck anyway, thanks for the posts people.

Hydraulic clutch slave cylinder has gone. Oil has basically contaminated the clutch.... think it migh rip to the Astra
 








Bevendean Hillbilly

New member
Sep 4, 2006
12,805
Nestling in green nowhere
Could be unrelated but as another poster has said sometimes when 1 thing fails on an older car there can seem to be a domino effect with part after part wearing out.

I’m still amazed that on the whole the motor trade is unregulated unless it’s MOTs.

I also know for a fact that at least half of the garages in and around Brighton aren’t vary good judging by the amount of parts they return after poor diagnosis (or guessnostics as we have named them).

FWIW my department has sold over £15m in parts to the trade in the last 3 years.

Main dealer stealers should be better, some are but many fall way short in terms of quality of diagnosis and actual work done.

An honest reliable garage/mechanic is hard to find.

This may be the best user reply on NSC this semester.

I know many grease monkeys in the southeast and...the good, honest ones, can be counted on the fingers of one finger. Supply and demand I guess.
 






Hugo Rune

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Feb 23, 2012
21,496
Brighton
About a month ago the turbo on my car went. A couple of days later the wife's car blew up due to water pump. Write off. Well and a half with no car. Bad luck.

That’s incredibly unlucky mate! Did you get your turbo replaced, if so, how much was it? Mine’s about to blow it’s beans.
 


Birdie Boy

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2011
4,104
That’s incredibly unlucky mate! Did you get your turbo replaced, if so, how much was it? Mine’s about to blow it’s beans.

Turbo was for a vw touran and cost £450 but I got the money for the scrapped car taken off the bill, probably about £100. It was done through a mate though, so may have been discounted as I was expecting around a grand and that is what my mate originally guessed at.
 






Hugo Rune

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Feb 23, 2012
21,496
Brighton
Turbo was for a vw touran and cost £450 but I got the money for the scrapped car taken off the bill, probably about £100. It was done through a mate though, so may have been discounted as I was expecting around a grand and that is what my mate originally guessed at.

Thanks for info!

I was thinking a grand too so I guess I need to find some folks in the trade.

Cheers
 




Freddie Goodwin.

Well-known member
Mar 31, 2007
7,186
Brighton
Some of you may recall how my Son's car broke down on the M6 after the Man Utd Cup tie. That was at the end of March and the garage has just returned the car, apparently 'fixed' on the 1st of June with a hefty bill to boot. Think we will be looking into this further.
 





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